BARAYE IRAN│FOR IRAN

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?

Hints of cardamom, jasmine, and rose water tease your nostrils to ease in closer

But you can’t go there anymore

For your ancestors still wince at the memory of the burn

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?

Though you’ve never met, you long to dwell in her temples and mosques 

To visit the Caspian sea –where your father was still whole

A sense of wonder with which you’re awe struck

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?

Mesmerized by the movement of her hips

Sights, scents, sweets, and sours you’ve grown impossibly close to

And yet, still miss the mark

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?

A foreign experience with which you’re estranged

Though you pray to grow nearer

Reflecting on her undeniable impact

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Have you ever been in love with a stranger?

Salivating as gheimeh over tadig passes you by

Your stomach aching from too much lavashak, though you stay wanting more

So you pray for a reunion, merely a visit

To be in love with a stranger

The tension between you and a home you’ve never been

I suppose it’s better to have witnessed her from afar

Than never to have been touched by her power at all

Lillian Farzan-Kashani, November 30, 2022